The St John’s
men’s group literally saw the light in early October during a wide-ranging talk
and
demonstration on illumination over the centuries by Brian Bowers, a member of
our
congregation
and once a senior curator at the Science Museum in London.
Starting from
the well known quotation from the third verse of Genesis in the Bible (and the
headline
above), Brian took us on a very interesting journey linking Jane Austin’s
darker
times, the
eighteenth century Lunar Society of influential scientists, paraffin’s takeover
from
smelly
vegetable oils, poet Sir John Betjeman, gaslights, carbon arc lamps, filament
lamps,
fluorescent
lamps and the LEDs (light emitting diodes) that are the most efficient and
cheapest way
of producing light in various situations today.
The church
Reading Group came to mind as we learned of a reference in Austin’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’
to the importance of knowing the phases of the moon to decide whether to go out at night.
Nights around the full moon were said to have been favoured for evening social
events, since
moonlight made travelling after dark easier.
A lively
discussion afterwards produced more enlightenment on “light pollution” from too
much light these days, lighthouses and much more.
Roger Jeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment